Coupling of Optical Lumped Nanocircuit Elements and Effects of Substrates

Abstract

We present here a model for the coupling among small nanoparticles excited by an optical electric field in the framework of our optical lumped nanocircuit theory [N. Engheta, A. Salandrino, and A. Alu Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 095504 (2005)]. We derive how this coupling affects the corresponding nanocircuit model by adding controlled sources that depend on the optical voltages applied on the coupled particles. With the same technique, we can model also the presence of a substrate underneath nanocircuit elements, relating its presence to the coupling with a properly modeled image nanoparticle. These results are of importance in the understanding and the design of complex optical nanocircuits at infrared and optical frequencies.